WWF: Raw is War
May 25, 1998
Chattanooga, TN
UTC Arena

The current WWF champs are as follows:
WWF Champion: Steve Austin (3/29/1998)
Intercontinental Champion: The Rock (12/8/1997)
World Tag Team Champions: The New Age Outlaws (3/30/1998)
European Champion: Triple H (3/17/1998)
Light Heavyweight Champion: TAKA Michinoku (12/7/1997)

INTRO UPDATE: Bret Hart is still in the introduction.

TIME TO GET RAW! Your hosts are Jim Ross and Michael Cole.

Vince McMahon and his two stooges Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco head to the ring with some rent-a-cops as security. McMahon recalls the events of last week’s main event and revels in the huge success it was as they were able to tame the Rattlesnake. You can almost see his vinegar strokes when he mentions how he “assaulted” Austin with a steel chair when he was hiding behind the Stone Cold Steve Austin mask. Admitting that he got away with it really puts him over the edge, if you will. He says what they accomplished will pale in comparison to the glory and honor that will be theirs when the WWF goes Over the Edge this Sunday on PPV. Brisco will be the timekeeper, Patterson will be the ring announcer, and McMahon will be the referee. When Dude Love becomes the new WWF champion this Sunday, it will be the dawning of a new era as we will witness the demise of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Well, that brings out Steve Austin to a huge reaction. He’s got a big smile on his face so this should be good. Austin gets on the mic and tells Vince that he has just proved to be the world’s dumbest son of a bitch. Since Vince has just admitted to assaulting Austin last week, he tells the rent-a-cops to arrest Mr. McMahon. This is amazing. The crowd is loving seeing Vince squirm into some handcuffs. Just another reason why he’s easily the top heel of 1998. He will humiliate himself to put over the babyface at any cost. Since Patterson and Brisco try and stop the cops from arresting McMahon, Austin reminds them they are trying to obstruct justice so now Patterson and Brisco get cuffed. Before Vince gets carted off, Austin pours beer all over him. NOW HIT THOSE CORNERS! OH HELL YEAH~!

• LOD 2000 & Puke vs. The Disciples of Apocalypse
  

We finally got the whole DOA crew together. Sunny is conspicuous by her absence here. LOD’s surprise partner is the debuting PUKE or Darren Drozdov. HE’S GONNA PUKE! Yeah, that guy. Probably not the best workers to debut against, but here we are. He throws some horrible looking armdrags and hiptosses on Chainz, but that’s Chainz for ya. Hawk works face in peril for a bit. Lukewarm tag to Puke and the match breaks down. While 8-Ball and Skull go to the floor with Hawk and Animal, Puke hits a three-point stance and a Batista Bomb for the win. (4:10) PUKE HAS BEEN DOMINANT TONIGHT! ¾*

In the back, the cops put Vince and his stooges in the back seat of their car while Austin talks some trash. Patterson complains about them hurting his shoulder. Hilarious.

Looks like there is somebody up in the cheap seats that we’re supposed to be looking at, but I can’t make out who it is. Edge, maybe?

• Owen Hart vs. Dan Severn
  

This could be interesting. There’s no way somebody is jobbing here though. Severn shows off his fireman’s carry skills and attempts an armbar to start. Owen tries to knot up the hamstring with kicks, but Severn catches one of those kicks and slams him to the mat. Owen stuns Severn with a punch to the forehead and he remains on Severn all the way down to the floor. Back in, Severn moves Owen into a corner only to get kicked in the balls. “Blind” Jimmy Korderas didn’t see anything. Nevertheless, Severn finds the armbar and tries to snap Owen’s arm before the Nation attacks for the DQ. (3:06) Once they get Severn laid out with Mark Henry splashes, Owen tries to PILLMANIZE Seven’s leg before he’s stopped by Commissioner Slaughter and some referees. Pick a side, Sarge. *

Stone Cold will again appear on MTV’s Celebrity Deathmatch this Thursday night. You can watch it right after WCW Thunder!

In the back, McMahon is FROTHING mad being stuck in the back of that cop car. I wish I knew what he was actually saying.

Another promo for Edge. His first RAW match won’t come along for another month.

Jackyl brings with him some Howard Stern people: Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf and Crackhead Bob. Good grief. This is such a Russo thing. Some college kids roar for these two nuts. He brings out some more of his Oddities: Luna, Golga (a slimmer John Tenta under the hood), and the largest human athlete in the WWF not named Kurrgan who we will briefly know as Giant Silva. He’s like El Gigante, but has more mass to him. By the way, where is Kurrgan?

• Golga (w/the Oddities) vs. Headbanger Thrasher (w/Headbanger Mosh)
  

Tenta looks good here still doing Earthquake offense. Sort of reminds me of Abyss. Anyways, he wins with the running powerslam finish at 2:57.

Another shot of Austin trolling Mr. McMahon and the stooges while they sit in the back of the cop car.

WWF REWIND (brought to you by Super Soaker): Let Us Take You Back to last week with the announcement that Paul Bearer is in fact Kane’s father.

• Jeff Jarrett (w/Tennessee Lee) vs. Vader
  

They announce Jarrett will be taking on Steve Blackman this Sunday at Over the Edge. Before they go to an ad break, Ross cries about something in the locker room. Oh that’s a dirty trick. When we come back, the match has started. Al Snow is shown being sneaky hiding in the audience waiting for Jerry Lawler to get him that meeting with Vince. Ross says that McMahon could be released from the cop car if he adheres to certain conditions. Vader absolutely mauls Jarrett here. Tennessee Lee prevents a few pinfalls by distracting the ref until finally Vader catches on and goes after him. Jarrett clips the knee and takes Vader to school. The Bossman straddle and Fargo strut goes down. Vader fires back on Jarrett and splashes him from the second rope. Man I love Vader. Before he can go any further, Kane runs down and drills Vader from behind with a clothesline for the DQ. (3:59 shown) The assault on Vader continues thanks to Kane as they head to the floor where Vader takes a ride into the steps. Ouch. Commissioner Slaughter and some refs yell at the monster, but it requires Paul Bearer to get Kane on track and take him back to the locker room. *½

Backstage, Mr. McMahon and the stooges are helped out of the cop car. Vince has to apologize to Austin if he wants to be freed. McMahon apologizes to the *former* WWF champion, but Austin won’t accept that. Take two. Vince apologizes and fakes his sincerity to get himself removed from the handcuffs. As soon as he’s released from the cuffs, Vince scowls at Austin and walks off.

ENTER THE WARZONE! Your hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

Vince McMahon, Gerald Brisco, and Pat Patterson return to the ring to talk it out. Naturally, McMahon is pissed about the way he has been treated here tonight. Turns out one of the conditions for Vince’s release was that Austin wants to have someone stand guard during his match at Over the Edge to ensure everything goes swimmingly. Vince says there’s not one WWF superstar that will intimidate him or stop him from what he plans to do at the PPV. McMahon hopes Austin has had his fun – because his fun has come to an end. He then forces Austin to go 1-on-1 with the Undertaker. Crowd goes nuts!

Earlier today at a clandestine airport somewhere in North America: We see DX release their latest plan. It involves Triple H in a plane for some reason.

Al Snow and Head confront Jerry Lawler. He really wants that meeting with Vince McMahon he was promised. Security comes over and escorts out Snow. Crazy guy.

• TAKA Michinoku vs. Dick Togo (w/Yamaguchi-san)
  

Togo pearl harbors TAKA at the bell, but Michinoku kicks him out to the floor so that TAKA can do his crazy springboard dive. Back inside, Michinoku has more kicks for Togo including a missile dropkick. He flies off the top again, but comes down into a dropkick from Togo. Out to the floor, Togo drills TAKA with a cannonball dive from the apron. Back in, Togo low blows Michinoku and hits a Pele Kick for two. Togo catches TAKA coming off the ropes with a powerslam and hits a springboard moonsault for two. TAKA whiffs on a tornado DDT, but catches Togo with a hurracanrana for the win. (3:51) Afterwards, TAKA gets his hands on Yamaguchi-san, which draws out Sho Funaki and Men’s Teioh. No Bradshaw this week. **

CASTROL GTX SLAM OF THE WEEK: From last week on RAW, it’s the debuting Val Venis hitting the Money Shot on Scorpio.

Let us take you back to that same airport – where the remaining members of DX are wondering where Triple H has gone. Road Dogg calls Gunn “Rockabilly” for laughs.

• Faarooq vs. Marc Mero (w/Sable)
  

Mero flashes that contract he claims Sable signed two years ago to do whatever he says. This goes about like last week did as Sable distracts Mero and causes him to lose once again. Faarooq drills Mero with a clothesline for the win. (2:30) Afterwards, Mero has an idea: if Sable can find a WWF superstar who can beat him without her help at Over the Edge, he’ll rip up the contract and set her free. However, if Mero wins, she has to leave the WWF forever. Sable accepts the offer and walks out. ½*

Vince McMahon narrates a Pat Patterson puff piece – he’s the first Intercontinental Champion, you know. What a swell guy he is, too.

DX’s secret mission turns out was skywriting over the Roberts Municipal Stadium in Evansville, IN where Nitro was happening on this night. Yeah, that’ll show ’em.

The Rock and Mark Henry head to the ring. Rock gives us his thoughts on Viagra – he doesn’t need it so he can’t comment. He goes on to promise that Faarooq has no chance at the IC belt on Sunday. And he goes on to badmouth Triple H. And then we take an ad break.

• The Rock (w/Mark Henry) vs. Triple H (w/Chyna)
  

Rock wins a slugfest to start, but then gets dumped out to the floor in front of Chyna for a shellacking. Henry heads over to go nose-to-nose with Chyna while Triple H takes over on the Rock for some ringside violence. Back in, Rock puts the boots to HHH and pounds him down in the corner. Henry reaches in and chokes Helmsley in the ropes to prove to us who the heel is. While Chyna argues with the ref, Rock blasts Triple H with the IC belt. That should be it, but it’s not because Chyna pulls him off the pin. Commercials. When we return, Rock hits the People’s Elbow for 1-2-NO! Triple H fires back with the Facebuster and a clothesline. While Henry gets provoked by H cubed, Chyna nails Rock with the European title. That’s right – Helmsley is the WWF European champion. Cover, 1-2-NO! Suplex and the Harley Race knee drop gets two. Rock catches Helmsley with a swinging neckbreaker and backdrops the PEDIGREE to send him to the floor. As Henry puts the boots to Helmsley, Chyna drills him with a chair to the back. Henry hardly sells it because he’s so massive, he absorbs the shot. He backs up Chyna, but here comes Helmsley to drive Henry into the ringpost. Rock goes after HHH, but gets whipped into the steps as the ref calls for the bell to signal a double-countout. (7:58 shown) Even though I know they got into a feud last year before Rock got hurt, these two definitely have chemistry together. As Rock backs up the ramp talking smack at Helmsley, he backs up into Faarooq who lays him out with a SWANK piledriver on the stage! Good grief that was amazing. Match of the night honors goes to Rock/HHH here. **½

• WWF Championship: Steve Austin (c) vs. The Undertaker
  

Surprise, surprise. Vince McMahon is the special guest referee here. With all the Undertaker has going on right now, this is a waste of his time. Before Austin appears, Taker gives Vince a CHOKESLAM. He wants a TOMBSTONE as well, but Kane and Paul Bearer come down. Taker ditches Vince and trades punches with Kane as the crowd loses it. They wind up brawling through the crowd while Paul Bearer watches from the ramp. As Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco come out to help Vince, Austin’s music hits and boy are they in trouble. STUNNER to Brisco! STUNNER to Patterson! Austin ties up Vince in the ropes and grabs a steel chair. Before he can land the blow, Dude Love runs out with a chair of his own and holds it up against his face while Austin drills him instead. Good grief. That was a home run. Meanwhile, Brisco and Patterson help Vince to the back while Austin poses for the crowd and leaves the Dude for dead in the ring.

And that’s all she wrote. OVER THE EDGE IS NEXT!

Until next time, so long for now.

Over the Edge: In Your House (brought to you by Castrol GTX) premieres Sunday, May 31 LIVE ON PPV at 7PM EST from the Wisconsin Center Arena in Milwaukee, WI.
MAIN EVENT for the WWF CHAMPIONSHIP (SPECIAL REFEREE: VINCE McMAHON): Steve Austin (c) vs. Dude Love
Intercontinental Championship: The Rock (c) vs. Faarooq
D-Generation X vs. The Nation
Mask versus Mask: Vader vs. Kane
LOD 2000 vs. The Disciples of Apocalypse
Battle for Sable’s Contract: Marc Mero vs. Opponent of Sable’s choosing
Jeff Jarrett vs. Steve Blackman